


That Kinda Kick

by Callisto



Series: Season 5 codas [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Coda, Episode Related, Episode: s05e07 The Curious Case of Dean Winchester, Gen, Season/Series 05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-09
Updated: 2011-04-09
Packaged: 2017-10-17 19:38:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/180486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callisto/pseuds/Callisto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>They sit there a while, the buzz of diner-life around them as Dean finishes the fries and Sam sips his coffee. Sam thinks about the way the world let him keep all this with four fours and finds he can’t quite let it go yet.</i></p><p><i>“You think we’ll get to grow old, Dean?”</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	That Kinda Kick

**Author's Note:**

> _Dean: “Hope I got that kinda kick when I’m his age.”  
>  Sam: “Yeah, like either of us’ll live that long.”  
> \--5.07 The Curious Case of Dean Winchester--_
> 
> Thanks to Ancasta for the beta.

_A River North diner..._

“Dude. You want me to leave? Let you and the nachos have a little alone time?”

“Shut up, Sam. God, these are so good!”

Or at least, that’s what Sam thinks Dean says. He’s kind of mesmerized by the way Dean is scooping up fingerfuls of chicken and cheese, then closing his eyes and groaning every time a mouthful goes down. ‘Chicken instead of meat’ is Dean’s proudly announced concession to heart health now. Sam pointing out that chicken _is_ meat earned him a glare and an ankle-kick under the table. So Sam ended up ordering a cheeseburger he doesn’t really want and fries he does.

Dean licks the last of the cheese off his fingers, smacks his lips, and Sam can’t help but smile. Food has always been something Dean experiences rather than eats.

“Better?”

“You have no idea.” Dean is eyeing Sam’s fries, so Sam sighs and nudges them out towards him.

“Thought you were going to eat vegetables from now on, Dean.”

“All in good time, Sammy. All in good time.”

Dean tucks into Sam’s fries with similar gusto, and as he’s chewing away in bliss, Sam can’t help but compare the face before him with the wrinkled one that scowled out at him for a while. Dean must sense his gaze because he slows down to swallow and ask “What?”

“Nothing. Just... it was kinda nice, actually. Seeing you old.”

“Nice? Christ, Sam. It hurt to piss, I couldn’t eat a damn thing without feeling like I was gonna explode, and you should have seen me and Ironside trying to get that grave dug. It was fucking pitiful.” He pauses to wipe his fingers on a fistful of napkins from the dispenser. “And,” he adds emphatically, “don’t even get me started on how not nice it was lying on that carpet waiting for my goddamn heart to stop.”

Sam puts his coffee back down. “Your heart?” Sam hasn’t thought to ask the details, but it makes a horrible kind of sense. Dean got a reprieve on his heart years ago, and he’s still coded twice since then.

Dean shifts in his seat. “Yeah, my whole left side just froze up and I fell down. It was...” he stops, his gaze drifts to the window, and Sam thinks about laying his hand on Dean’s sleeve. But he holds his breath and doesn’t move. Lost in thought like this there’s a chance Dean will forget anyone is listening. His brother’s gaze doesn’t come back from the window. “...horrible, man. It was weird. Like all there was, was this one thing in my head. Over and over, like a—” Dean breathes in and out sharply, cuts himself off. He looks at Sam, then away and out the window again. He scratches the back of his neck.

“What?” asks Sam, fascinated and unable to take his eyes off his brother. “Dean, the one thing?”

Dean looks straight at him. “Don’t remember now.”

Sam just nods and swallows. He’s going to let it go.

They sit there a while, the buzz of diner-life around them as Dean finishes the fries and Sam sips his coffee. Sam thinks about the way the world let him keep all this with four fours and finds he can’t quite let it go yet.

“You think we’ll get to grow old, Dean?”

Sam holds his breath again, not sure of the answer he wants or expects. Such fancies once took him to a college, a girl, one ID for everything, and visions of an entire wardrobe of suits that fit. But that was a long time ago, a lifetime before Hell and Heaven beckoned and broke them with other visions and deals.

“I _was_ a handsome devil, wasn’t I?

Sam exhales and rolls his eyes. “Dude, way to miss the point entirely.”

“What? I was! I still had all my hair, right? Bet your mane falls out by the time you’re fifty.”

It’s weird and it’s dumb, and it’s something they rarely joke about. But sitting here with this rejuvenated Dean, the one who’s busy appreciating life and all the cheese nachos it can give him, it’s hard to insist he get serious and forget it all.

“Wait here, Sammy. Be right back.”

Sam shakes his head and gives up. He is absolutely going to make the most of this while it lasts. Pretty soon they’ll be up to their necks in demons and the heavenly host, and lines of worry and silence will wear themselves back in around Dean’s mouth again. No doubt it’ll be cheeseburgers and scowls in no time.

“Here you go, Sam.”

Sam looks at the fork Dean is holding out, and at the plate Dean has slid between them. He raises an eyebrow in question. Dean is grinning and looking insufferably pleased with himself.

“Carrot cake, dude. I meant what I said about eating more vegetables.”

Sam smiles back and takes the fork.

He fucking _hates_ carrot cake, but this? This is golden.

******


End file.
